PROVO — Ty’Son Williams only played in four football games for BYU last season, but the fifth-year graduate transfer running back from South Carolina made a big impact on the program and had a hand in the Cougars’ upsets of Tennessee and Southern California.
However, his time in Provo is over, despite the possibility of gaining an additional year of eligibility from the NCAA via a medical hardship waiver. Williams announced Thursday afternoon via Twitter that he will forgo a sixth season and declare for the 2020 NFL draft.
“Thank you for accepting me for who I was,” Williams wrote in a message directed to BYU fans. “In only 4 games I gave you all everything I had and more. Unfortunately my season came to an end short but (during) that span of time I was the player I had aspired to be the moment I stepped on a college campus.”
Williams sustained a torn left ACL in the first half of BYU’s 45-19 loss to Washington on Sept. 21 and announced the following day that his season was over.
The 6-foot-2, 220-pound running back had 264 yards and three touchdowns on 49 carries at BYU. He caught seven passes for 47 yards.
He recorded the game-winning touchdown in double overtime in BYU’s 29-26 win over Tennessee. The following week, he rushed for 99 yards in a 30-27 overtime win over USC.
Williams made the recent trip to Hawaii with his teammates and watched from the sidelines as the Cougars fell 38-34 to Hawaii on Tuesday. He ended up being BYU’s fourth-leading rusher behind freshman Sione Finau (359 yards), sophomore Lopini Katoa (358) and freshman Jackson McChesney (274).
BYU kicker in transfer portal
Also Thursday, it was revealed by 247Sports.com that sophomore kicker Skyler Southam has entered the transfer portal, joining backup quarterback Joe Critchlow.
Southam, a returned missionary from Heber City’s Wasatch High, was BYU’s primary field goal and PAT kicker in 2018, and most known for making a 45-yarder that beat Wisconsin 24-21 in Madison. But he lost the job in 2019 to Jake Oldroyd, and was just 1 of 3 on field goal attempts and 3 of 3 on PATs.
He excelled as BYU’s kickoff specialist, however, with 69 kickoffs for a 58.6 average and 18 touchbacks. Southam was a U.S. Army All-American his senior season at Wasatch High before serving on a mission in Chile for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Another kicker, returned missionary Ryan Rehkow, will join the program in January, BYU announced last week.